God I was so busy with paid work. Kiki Dee was a delightful presenter, and I had a wonderful trawl through the archive, highlight of which was the 1973 session Elton did for John Peel, when he played his greatest hits, including ‘Daniel’, in the style of the pub pianist he used to be in Pinner.
The trip to see him in action in New York’s Madison Square Garden wasn’t bad either. I mean I’d always liked Elton, and the first hour sped by with all the hits. Then well into the second hour he hit another run of quality material, and I appreciated just what a talent he was, with Bernie’s help. We got to Elton when he was rehearsing for the Parkinson show at TV Centre. Most of the first half of the interview was the Artist Formerly Known As Reg Dwight complaining about how “the ****ing BBC could never get any of their ****ing pianos in tune!”